Argentine Congress passes law to prevent sale of state stakes in firms

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Argentina's Congress gave
final approval on Wednesday to a law making it harder for the
government to sell state stakes in local firms, a month before
elections seen bringing a more market-friendly president to
power.

With Cristina Fernandez barred from a third consecutive
term, the two main candidates are her ruling party's Daniel
Scioli and the PRO opposition party's Mauricio Macri. Both are
expected to move away from her interventionist policies, to
varying degrees.

The law, passed 127-84 in the lower house, would create an
agency to administer the state's stakes in companies as diverse
as regional banks and media conglomerate Clarin. It
would require the governments to get two-thirds approval in
congress if it wanted to sell a stake.

Ruling party lawmaker Roberto Feletti said the law aimed to
"protect state interests, giving parliament the ability to
decide whether or not to sell them".

Fernandez has expropriated several companies over the years,
including a water company, the oil company YPF and the
country's biggest airline, Aerolineas Argentinas. The
state also acquired a number of stakes in companies when it
nationalized its private pension system.

This policy which scared off international investors was
popular at home. Many Argentines fear that if Macri won
October's elections, he could return them to the neoliberal
policies and privatisations of the 1990s.

Opposition lawmakers were critical of the fact the sale of
state stakes in companies would require a two-thirds approval in
Congress given laws only require a simple majority.

Argentina's senators already passed the law in a vote last
week.
(Reporting by Ricardo Mangano; Writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing
by Bernard Orr)